Rahul Gandhi is upset with the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief Selvaperunthagai and wants him to resign after polling in the state. From the face of it the TNCC chief is being hauled up for a translation fiasco.  That is Selvaperunthagai is supposed to have misrepresented Rahul while translating his speech. At a public rally when Rahul by mistake said AIADMK instead of DMK, the TNCC chief also parroted the same line without correcting it to alliance partner, DMK. When his gaffe became viral, Rahul got livid and asked the TNCC chief to stay put in his Sriperumbudur constituency. Party circles in Tamil Nadu are however not convinced that Rahul has taken a harsh view of Selva for gaffe. The buzz in the TN Congress circles is that Selvaperunthagai is being punished for something bigger — the loss of huge sums of election funds that the TN PCC had received. Party bosses see Selvaperunthagai’s alleged role in “missing” election funds – around Rs 25 crore. In fact, it was this hunt for funds that made Selvaperunthagai fake an Income-tax raid on April 20 morning. When I-T denied it had not raided him, he had nowhere to hide his face. The only person who came in support of his fake I-T raid was chief minister M K Stalin. As for Rahul Gandhi he set off on his own for a rally at Colachel, Kanyakumari without the TNCC chief.  It is being said Rahul has come to deeply mistrust the DMK; he has not shared any rally with the ally, nor mentioned DMK’s name in course of his speech. He apparently suspects DMK has purchased Congress men in Tamil Nadu.

  The film Dacoit got mixed reviews trying its best to rise up like a stone at the bottom of a well and all but got its RIP reviews. Suddenly Dacoit has picked up speed and eyeballs…worldwide vasool is now Rs 50 crore, a jaw dropping happenstance for a film that has more swagger than substance. In fact, the title has nothing to do with the story set in a village. The antagonist and protagonist, Mrunal Thakur and Adivi Sesh filled with love revenge and blood lust, each trying to vanquish the other…none of the fearsome dacoit who terrorises. So what happened to that sinking film? Mrunal Thakur …this dimpled dazzling and quietly charming leading lady has single-handedly carried Dacoit and its sizzling gun on her shoulders, bringing viewers in by word of mouth. Mrunal , the darling of Telugu pot boilers, and the unforgettable Lakshmi of Sita Ramam (with Dulquer Salmaan ) has been trained intensely for gun handling. It is evident that she has worked hard enough to be compared with Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone and Kalyani Priyadarshan who have moved into the heavy lifting class of women centric films. Mrunal still has a long way to go …she is nowhere near Phoolan Devi, the Chambal ravines terror inducing dacoit …but she has put her heart, soul and delicate persona to test in this intense drama.

The fall of the 131st Constitutional Amendment  (Women Reservation Bill) in the Lok Sabha last week and the BJP ratcheting up attack on the Opposition for not helping in its passage —  complete with PM Modi’s address to the nation, street protests in Delhi and outside Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s residence – is not helping ordinary BJP karykarta in Bengal fighting the Trinamool Congress (TMC). In fact, BJP sources are quite puzzled as to why PM Modi tried to even bring a women’s quota bill at this juncture in the midst of Bengal polls. That too, when the government was aware it was set to fall? What was the big idea? Atleast in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) is able to take pot shots at DMK leader M K Stalin for putting the state at a disadvantage in the delimitation gamble. In Bengal, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has gone on a disinformation overdrive. It was as if the defeat of the women’s quota bill had given a new lease of life to the TMC. Her campaign has naturally upset the BJP leaders and workers. Mamata, who was fighting with her back to the wall as she had begun to sense hostilities to the TMC among the Hindus, used the defeat of the Bill to describe it as “beginning of BJP’s downfall”. At a rally in Howrah, Didi went on to portray that the BJP had been “defeated” and was surviving in office only with the support of its allies. She was clearly trying to scare potential BJP voters by portraying that the national party no longer mattered in Delhi. Meanwhile senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot too suggested that the government ought to seek a fresh mandate on the gender issue.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi may be the target of government’s ire for sabotaging the Women’s Reservation Bill. He may also be the visible face for Opposition Unity that helped defeat the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill. However, beyond the facade of political brinkmanship, there are reports that the Leader of the Opposition ( LoP) in the Lok Sabha was not actually immersed in out manoeuvring the Modi government. Apparently on the crucial day of formulating a strategy, Rahul was distracted – NOT engrossed — in the political discussions at the first meeting of Opposition leaders held on April 15, a day ahead of the Parliament special session, at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence. It is being said Rahul was so focussed on his pet dog whom he had brought along and was playing in the lawns outside. It wasn’t not clear if the dog was Noorie, a Jack Russell Terrier puppy, that he had picked from Goa in 2023 or Pidi that really had got on the nerves of Himanta Biswas Sarma. Kharge certainly had anxious moments as the dog was getting restless in the lawn. After a couple of minutes into the meeting, even Rahul could not keep himself away from his pet. It was apparently his day to spend time with his pet.  Soon the canine was ushered into the meeting of leaders. With the presence of the dog in the meeting, most Opposition leaders felt uncomfortable and decided to wind down. It almost seemed like a redux of how Himanta Sarma had reportedly felt when he had to interact with Rahul in presence of his pet dog Pidi about a decade ago.

Once Bollywood’s most reliable Khiladi, Akshay Kumar now finds himself in a worrying slump. The new release of Bhooth Bangla, his much-hyped horror-comedy reunion with Priyadarshan after 16 years, has opened to underwhelming numbers. Paid previews fetched Rs 3.5 crore, while Friday’s Day 1 collection stood at Rs 12.25 crore, taking the India net to Rs 15.75 crore so far. Worldwide gross has reached Rs 23.9 crore but these figures fall well below expectations for a big-budget genre film. Mixed-to-negative reviews and weak word-of-mouth have already signalled trouble ahead, with analysts projecting a lifetime India net of just Rs 75 crore at best. This latest disappointment is not the first. Between 2022 and early 2024, Akshay delivered a string of flops: Bachchhan Paandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, Ram Setu, Selfiee, Mission Raniganj, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Sarfira, and Khel Khel Mein. A brief 2025 revival with Sky Force and Housefull 5 offered hope, but Bhooth Bangla now threatens to reset the narrative of decline. Industry watchers point to deeper issues. Audiences are increasingly rejecting Akshay’s familiar mannerisms; the same over-the-top energy, predictable comic timing, and larger-than-life hero template that once worked. Overexposure remains a major complaint; the actor’s habit of releasing multiple films a year has led to fatigue. More critically, the storylines and narrations feel non-inventive and recycled, lacking the fresh writing that defined his golden run with Hera Pheri or Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Akshay has acknowledged past criticism and even spoken about audience calls for “kuch alag karo.” Unless he breaks the cycle with genuinely original scripts and reduced output, the once-bankable superstar risks watching his box-office dominance fade further. Bhooth Bangla may still surprise with a miracle hold, but the early signs suggest another chapter in a challenging new phase for the Khiladi.

Opposition leaders who voted out the Constitution (131st) Amendment Bill providing for 33% reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha by 230 votes are somewhat perplexed by the government move to have allowed the bill to flounder on the floor of the House. Opposition benches felt the government had made no effort to reach out to them to secure passage of the Bill. “It was quite clear as if the government just wanted to make only a political point about the defeat of the Bill on women’s reservation…They made no effort to reach out to us, the Opposition,” pointed out a senior Kerala leader. Political analysts feel the government was simply not interested in passage of the Bills, was content with 298 votes and was fishing for a strong political message ahead of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal elections. Now the defeat of the women’s quota bill has provided the perfect handle for the BJP to carry a political message to woo women voters in these two states. There may be thousands of ambitious women panchayat members in these states who may have hoped to move up the ladder with gender quota coming up. However, that possibility has been crushed at least for now by both M K Stalin and Mamata Banerjee.  Of course, incumbent Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin sees defeat of the Centre’s women’s quota bill as DMK’s triumph over the Centre. In his reply in Lok Sabha debate, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah said “Some may think that if they do not vote for this, the Women’s Reservation Bill will fall. But the women of this country are watching who is creating obstacles in their path. When you go to the ground, you will realise it.”

The initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to introduce reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies has had its genesis in Maharashtra. The introduction of Women’s Reservation in local self-government bodies in Maharashtra by then chief minister Sharad Pawar in the early 1994 was a landmark moment in India’s democratic evolution. It not only transformed grassroots governance in the state but also became a foundational model that influenced the present national-level legislation. It will be pertinent to recall how Pawar conceptualized and implemented the policy and understand how it has become a matter of pride. It was Maharashtra that set the ball rolling by being the first state to have successfully adopted a comprehensive women’s policy in 1994. Pawar as defence minister of India (1991-1993) instituted 11% reservation for women in the Army, Navy and Air Force. After returning as chief minister of Maharashtra, he transformed the Women’s Reservation Bill into a reality in the most progressive state in India. Decades later, the Modi government’s Women’s Reservation Bill at the national level can be seen as a continuation of this trajectory. While separated by scale and time, both initiatives share a common vision: to correct historical gender imbalance in political representation. Maharashtra has a strong legacy of social reform. It was in Mumbai and Pune that first schools for girls were started well before 1850. Widow remarriage was another revolution. The first medical lady doctor was Anandibai Joshi. Such an ideological background influenced later social and political leaders.

Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has once again kept the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on the tenterhooks by not sending out any clear signal about his re-entry in the state legislative council. After his present term in the upper house expires, he will have to face a possible election to be held on 14 May to elect nine MLCs from the legislative assembly constituency. Given the existing statistics, the ruling Mahayuti can elect eight of its nominees easily while the MVA can be confident to bag just one seat. However, there are three claimants: the Congress, the NCP (Sharad Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav. The Congress is sore with both partners because they unilaterally supported the candidature of deputy CM Sunetra Pawar for the Baramati assembly byelection, caused by the demise of her husband Ajit Pawar in a plane crash earlier this year.  The Congress was thus compelled to follow suit against its wishes. Now that an opportunity to send one of its leaders to the council is available, it finds itself in a tight corner as the possibility of Uddhav wishing to enter the fray is hovering over its head. There is speculation that Uddhav may nominate some other Sena leader. However, his detractors point out that he had declared his resignation as CM and in the same breath said he would give up council membership as well. However, he did not and hence no decision can be taken till he comes out with a clear, unambiguous stand, they say.

With just a week to go before the first phase of the two-phase West Bengal Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress has rolled out an aggressive, data-driven campaign under its 250-Seat Strategy, aiming to expand beyond the 215 seats it won in 2021. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has set a target of 226 seats, while party insiders say Abhishek Banerjee is pushing for around 250 seats in the 294-member Assembly. The strategy is based on granular analysis of past election data, focusing on 30–35 constituencies across 29 Lok Sabha seats won in 2024 and over 100 Assembly segments where 2021 margins were within 15,000 votes. At least 34 seats had margins below 5,000 votes, with BJP winning 21 and TMC 13. The narrowest margin was 273 votes in Balarampur, while Cooch Behar Dakshin saw just over 4,300. Similar trends appeared in 2024, including Balurghat at 9,673 votes and TMC wins in Arambagh and Bishnupur by 6,308 and 6,172. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has intensified focus, with 44 constituencies seeing deletions exceeding past margins. Seats with 5,000-10,000 margins numbered 33 with TMC winning 24 and BJP nine. The campaign emphasises booth-level management, with war rooms in all 294 constituencies staffed by about 20 Trinamool members. Over one lakh shadow agents monitor electoral rolls, while leaders hold three to four rallies daily and micro meetings of 250–300 people weekly per booth. The approach reflects a shift from charisma-driven campaigns to structured mobilisation, daily voter engagement, and continuous monitoring of outreach, grievances and constituency-level electoral dynamics across the state overall.

The BJP has intensified its Bengal campaign in the run-up to the April 23 polling, unveiling what party insiders describe as an “all-out strategy” to flood the ground with messaging, mobilisation and leadership presence. Almost 500 rallies, roadshows and meetings will be held across 152 constituencies voting in the first phase, with at least one event in each seat addressed by a senior leader to push last-mile outreach. Union minister and election observer Bhupender Yadav said a Bengal leader will also address at least one rally in every constituency, reinforcing coordination between central and state units. The campaign is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, who together anchor the high-decibel push. Modi is addressing around 11 rallies for this phase, while Shah is addressing about 30. Chief ministers from BJP-ruled states, including Himanta Biswa Sarma and Yogi Adityanath, have been deployed to target regions such as border belts and tribal areas. Alongside physical outreach, the party has launched a structured media offensive from April 15, aligning with the Bengali New Year, with daily press conferences focused on manifesto themes and governance critiques of the Trinamool Congress government. The messaging marks a calibrated shift, avoiding direct personal attacks on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after backlash in 2021, and instead focusing on governance, economic distress and agrarian concerns. A central campaign issue is the potato crisis, highlighting price crashes, export restrictions and inadequate storage. This year, supply disruptions in Kolkata and price spikes halted inter-state sales. Combined with bumper output, this has hurt farmers even as consumers face volatility. The BJP argues this reflects administrative failure, promising market access and fair prices, while deploying over 700 external personnel to manage campaigns despite factional challenges.